Ramalinga Raju surrenders in court, back in jail
By IANSWednesday, November 10, 2010
HYDERABAD - Disgraced founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd B. Ramalinga Raju and five others Wednesday returned to jail after they surrendered before a trial court here in the multi-crore-rupee accounting fraud.
Ramalinga Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju, former Satyam CFO V. Srinivas and three other former employees of the IT firm - G. Ramakrishna, Venkatapathi Raju and Srisailam - surrendered before the 21st additional chief metropolitan magistrate as the Supreme Court had last month cancelled their bail.
All the six accused were later taken to Chanchalguda central jail here. Ramalinga Raju is returning to jail after nearly a year.
The magistrate ordered that they be produced personally before the court during every hearing.
CBI officials said Ramalinga Raju can’t move bail application before July 31, 2011, the time frame set by the Supreme Court for the trial court to complete the hearing.
The formalities of the surrender were completed in the evening. Earlier, all the 10 accused appeared before the magistrate. Ramalinga Raju got a medical check-up done at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) before giving himself up.
The Supreme Court had Tuesday rejected the petitions of the accused, seeking additional time to surrender.
The apex court had Oct 26 cancelled the bail of Raju and five others and had asked them to surrender before the trial court by Nov 10.
Raju, 56, was arrested in January last year after he admitted to India’s biggest corporate fraud. He was granted bail by the Andhra Pradesh High Court Aug 18 on the ground that other accused had also been granted bail.
At that time Raju was undergoing treatment at NIMS for Hepatitis C infection. He had been avoiding court since November last year, delaying the commencement of the trial. He was discharged from NIMS Oct 2.
Raju had shocked corporate India by admitting to a Rs.7,800 crore accounting fraud in the IT major. While resigning as chairman of the firm, he confessed on Jan 7 last year that the company cooked its books resulting in an “inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances over several years.
Two days later he surrendered before the police and was later taken to jail. In November last year, he was shifted to NIMS for Hepatitis C treatment.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had told the court last year that the scam is of over Rs.14,000 crore.
